POINTED BARK CANOES. 



527 



in the maritime provinces of (Canada, in the region immediately north of the Great 

 Lakes, and in northern New England and New York, where it ascends to higher ele- 

 vations than any other deciduous-leaved tree; it is small and comparatively rare in 

 the coast region of southern New England, in southern New York, and central Minne- 

 sota; widely distributed at high latitudes from Labrador to the eastern base of the 

 Rocky Mountains; it is never very abundant there nor a conspicuous object in the 

 landscape, and within the Arctic Circle becomes small and crooked. West of the 

 Rocky Mountains, where it attains its largest size, the canoe birch usually grows 

 singly and is found only along the l)anks of streams. (Vol. IX, p. 57.) 



The Western white pine is distri])uted through mountain forests from the basin of 

 the Columbia River, in southern British Columbia, to Vancouver Island, southward 

 along the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains to northern Montana, and to the 

 Bitter Root Mountains of Idaho, westward along the mountain ranges of northern 

 Idaho and Washington, reaching the sea level near the shores of the Straits of 

 Fuca, and southward along the Cascade Mountains and the Washington and Oregon 

 coast ranges, extending eastward in Oregon to the high mountains east of Goose 

 Lake, and southward along both slopes of the California Sierras to the ridge between 

 Little Kern and Kern rivers, in latitude 36° 25^ In northern Idaho the western 

 white pine grows to its largest size, and is most abundant, often forming an imi)ortant 

 part of the forest at elevations of from 2,000 to 2,500 feet above the sea on the 

 bottom lands of streams trilnitary to Lake Pend Oreille; farther east, in Montana, 

 it is less abundant and smaller; in the interior of British Columbia it is not abun- 

 dant, although it sometimes is large; it is scattered in considerable numljers through 

 the coniferous forests of the coast ranges of British Columbia and through the interior 

 of Vancouver Island; and it is not rare on the Cascade Range, where it ascends to 

 elevations of 5,000 to 6,000 feet, nor on the California Sierras, first appearing singly 

 or in small groups along the upper margin of the fir forest, and attaining its noblest 

 dimensions in California at elevations of about 10,000 feet above the sea, where trees 

 90 feet high, with trunks 5 or 6 feet in diameter, sometimes occur, and resist for 

 centuries, with their massive trunks, and short, contorted branches, the fiercest 

 Sierra gales. (Vol. XI, p. 23.) 



As to the unique shape of the Kutenai canoe on the American Con- 

 tinent, it will not suffice to say that pine bark is more easily bent after 

 this fashion, and that in obedience to the law of economy of effort 

 this was the natural result of employing that material. The writer 

 made experiments with substances having similar toughness and elas- 

 ticity and found it no more difficult to bend them into the common 

 canoe form than into the monitor form when the material is properly 

 cut out. As to the economy of sewing at the ends, that is difficult to 

 determine. At any rate, the other American Indians invariably slope 

 their Ijirch-bark canoes outward from the bottom at both ends, but 

 the Oltscha and Goldi of the Amur, and even the Tungus and Yakut, 

 imitate the Kutenai tribes and point their birch canoes below the 

 water. 



In order to ascertain the distribution and handling of these pine- 

 bark canoes, the assistance of Mr. Meriden S. Hill, secretary of the 

 Tacoma Academy of Sciences, Washington, was invoked, and the 

 results of his investigations will now be given. 



